Red Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
by Judgement101
Summary: Red Potter thinks he is an ordinary boy - until he is rescued by a squint-eyed giant man, enrols at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, learns to play Quidditch and does battle in a deadly duel. The reason: RED POTTER IS A WIZARD! I do not own Harry Potter or Pokemon.
1. The Wizard

The Wizard

Mr and Mrs Stones were perfectly normally people, thank you very much, and so was their son Harry. At the age of eleven, Harry would be sent to the finest Pokémon Trainer Academy in Kanto and he would learn to become the very best Trainer. Harry's name would become legend and when the history books speak of him, but they will make no reference to the boy who lived in the cupboard under the stairs.  
As a matter of fact, Mr and Mrs Stones were quite petrified of people linking them with the very strange boy who lived under their stairs. He was their nephew and while there were physical similarities, he had eyes the colour of blood and under his messy black hair was a scar shaped like a bolt of lightning. They had found him on their doorstep one morning and let him live under their stairs ever since out of the goodness of their hearts.  
Their nephew was quiet, rarely asked or answered questions, and demanded very little attention or energy. This made the moments when Mr or Mrs Stones' focus was drawn from Harry all the more arduous. But at least the boy was almost eleven and could be sent far away to Johto for a few years. A cheap Trainer's school in Violet city would be more than enough and leave the Stones to repair the strains their marriage had taken after years of bothering with the peculiar boy with his unnerving eyes and the peculiar things that he made happen.  
Of course Mr and Mrs Stones knew perfectly well that their nephew was a wizard. But as far as the boy himself knew, his parents had died in a biking accident involving gyarados and so he was a waste of space, weird, disliked, and his name was Red Potter.  
Although Red's Uncle Vernon harped on and on about Harry becoming a Pokémon Master, the truth was that Harry really wasn't too good with Pokémon. He couldn't tell a pidgey from a seviper, was frequently bitten by rattatta, and had absolutely no clue about the basics of Type Advantage.  
It was completely unnerving to watch the way his aunt and uncle fussed over grooming Harry into their idea of a Pokémon Master. Harry was encouraged not to brush his hair so it remained spiky and messy, spent hours sitting in the 'forest' Uncle Vernon had constructed in the backyard, and as the time for Harry to be sent to Trainer School drew closer, his skin had been starting to turn a shade of fake tan orange most commonly found on vain beach-goers. They hadn't made much improvement on how scrawny Harry looked, as he didn't look like he'd be able to withstand walking from their house on the outskirts of Pallet to the nearest Pokémon Laboratory.  
Granted, Red was even scrawnier, but he had grown up in a cupboard. And it was in that cupboard where Red normally stayed; Harry was far too loud to be bothered with, and the dark space was quite nice. Sometimes a small spinarak would turn up.

Then it happened, the letters addressed to Red started to arrive.  
On the first day, Uncle Vernon snatched the letter away and shoved Red into his cupboard. On the second, he camped on the doorstep to get the three letters before Red did. On the third, he commanded Red to move up into Harry's spare bedroom.  
Harry watched as Red dumped his only possession onto the bed before running off down the hall. As Red looked around, stunned at all the space he had suddenly gained, he heard Harry yelling, "I have a cousin? Whoa!"  
"Bloody hell, he's been cluttering up my house for ten years!" Vernon shouted. "How did you not notice boy?"  
On the fourth day, there were some fifty letters shoved through the mail slot. Vernon started boarding up the house, but the letters kept coming; pushed under the windows, gushing down the chimney, and Aunt Delia even found some inside the eggs when she was cooking dinner. Harry still seemed stunned to have a cousin, but even he had enough sense to question Vernon's sanity.  
"Daddy are you ok?" Harry asked a little scared of his father's face.  
"What's so bad about my cousin getting some letters?" he wondered.  
Red realised that, despite all the letters bearing his name and room and ten years of living together, Harry had no idea what Red's name was.  
It seemed like an accurate summation of Red's life.  
By the seventh day, Red and the Stones were in a rotting cabin on a giant rock surrounded by a sea so wild that it seemed to make the giant rock sway.  
"Won't find us here," cackled Vernon, stroking a long thin package wrapped in brown paper. "Won't reach us here… stamp it out, yes…"  
Delia sighed and put curlers in the lower half of her hair.  
After an hour or so of Harry's freaky staring, the Stones retreated to bed. This left Red to lie under a ragged blanket on the floor, drawing a birthday cake in the dust and slowly realise, 'It's past midnight. That means I'm eleven now. Huh.' He blew his dust cake, hoping it would make him feel better, he didn't feel any different — at least, not until the door exploded.  
Alarmed, Red leapt up. From the storm emerged a tall dark man with unnaturally spiky hair and where were his eyes?  
"Sorry about that!" the man laughed.  
Seriously, where?  
"I'll fix it, hang on." He waved a jigglypuff themed umbrella at the doorway, and the pieces of the door all gathered and flew back together like nothing had happened, which was weird enough but where were his eyes?  
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WAS —" Vernon's shouting was cut short when the man shushed him. "HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU BARGE IN HERE YOU SQUINT-EYED BASTARD!"  
"Shh."  
"OPEN YOUR EYES AND FACE ME LIKE A —"  
"Shh," the man repeated with a wave of his umbrella. Vernon was immediately silent, but remained purple with rage.  
The man turned to Red and smiled widely. His eyes remained closed. "Hello there, Red!"  
Red stared.  
"Last time I saw you, you were just a little baby fresh from the breeding."  
Normally when Red stared, adults cowered away. But this man kept grinning and stepped closer and dammit Red was going to have to talk to him. "Who are you?"  
"Hi, I'm Brock. I'm the game-keeper at Hogwarts, but what I'm really passionate about is breeding."  
"…Pokémon, right?"  
"Of course."  
Red was convinced this was a dream, so he decided to roll with it. "And, what is this Hogwarts?"  
Brock chuckled. "Like you don't know."  
"No. Really. What is it?"  
"…**STOONNEESS**!" Brock roared. He whirled around to face Vernon, brandishing the umbrella like a sword. "You didn't tell him?!"  
"We weren't going to have one in the family!" Vernon shouted back. "They'd ruin our reputation and — bloody hell, he never asked!"  
"I'm asking now," Red said calmly. "What's Hogwarts? What are you talking about? One what?"  
Brock turned back and said, "You're a wizard, Red."  
The silence that followed was heavy with tension.  
"A… a wizard?"  
"That's right. Just like your parents."  
"They're dead," Red said quickly, in case Brock was listening for them with his sonar.  
Brock's lip quivered. "I know. Everybody knows in the wizarding world. Famous, your parents were. Crimson and Scarlett, wonderful people, really wonderful. Then they got murdered, that was awful."  
Red's eyes flickered to the Stones. "My… my parents were… what? You said they were killed in a biking accident by a wild gyarados!"  
"Biking accident?!" roared Brock. "No! Never!"  
"You knew?" Red growled. "You knew didn't you?" But of course they knew. His mother and Delia were sisters.  
"It was just ridiculous!" Delia cried. "One day they just took her away and trained her up, which meant I had to take over the family business while she came back turning teacups into rats! Horrible waste of the teacups! Then she married that freak and had you, and I knew you'd be the same, but I never expected her to get blown up and leave me to look after you too!"  
"Blown up!" Red didn't know what to think, and was almost glad that Brock became so enraged he turned to Harry (who was still fast asleep on the couch through all the noise) and gave him a grumpig tail.  
Brock turned back to Red. "Oh yeah, I made you a birthday cake. And I have your Hogwarts letter, too."  
His eyes were still firmly closed.  
It wasn't a dream; Brock was still there in the morning, the letter explaining about Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry was still in Red's hand (Red thought that if he dropped it, his escape ticket would become null and void so he clung to it) and Red actually had money (a huge vault of it guarded by talking alakazam!) and he was buying school books for a magical boarding school he was going to attend. It really was crazy. Maybe Red had gone crazy from too long in a dark cupboard, but it felt real, and he desperately wanted it to be.  
Little things let Red know it was real; Brock's staring at skirts, the people staring at his scar and shaking his hands even though he'd never wanted anything more than to blend in and let life pass him by, the people glaring like they wanted him dead, the fact that he tripped over whilst trying to behold all of Diagon Alley and scrapped his arm. That and the weight of his textbooks.  
"I need to get some robes," Red read from his list.  
"So you'll need Madam Diplois's." Brock pointed in the vague direction. "You go. I have some… business to take care of." His eyes were on a particularly short skirt.  
"Okay," Red replied, relieved to be alone.  
It wasn't a particularly spacious store but luckily there was only one other customer; a pale boy with pale brown hair shaped in clearly deliberate spikes. Red assumed it was to make him look taller, as they were of similar degrees of shortness. A slim woman in a corset that did nothing to add to her slight curves — assumedly Madam Diplois — was measuring him.  
Making sure his scar was covered, Red walked further in to the store.  
"Oh, hello dear, you here by yourself?" Madam Diplois asked. Red nodded. "Just one moment, I'll be getting Mr Oak's robes, set yourself up over there, won't be a mo'…"  
"Hey," the boy said. "Name's Green Oak."  
Someone else named after a colour. Perhaps it was a magical thing.  
"You're a Hogwarts first year too, then?"  
"Uh-huh."  
"Which House d'ya wanna be sorted into?"

Green quickly continued talking. "I'm going to be in Slytherin. 'Course, you can't pick, but if they put me anywhere near Hufflepuff I'm transferring straight to Durmstrang. I wanted to go there, the snow sounds cool, but Father insisted I stay close to home."  
"…snow is nice," Red agreed.  
"It really is." Green smiled. "Who's that squint-eyed oaf?"  
Tapping on the window and making 'call me' motions between attempts to wipe the drool from his chin was Brock. Red glanced around and was relieved to spot the tailor shaking her head in terror.  
"That's Brock. He's a little strange," Red murmured. "He likes breeding."  
Green snorted. "Peasant hobby."  
Red frowned. "He's weird but he's still nice."  
"You're here with him? Where are your parents?"  
Red pointed down to the ground. "Yeah. I'm with him. The school sent him."  
Green's eyes narrowed and their emerald hue seemed to intensify. "You're not one of those, are you? Were your parents wizards?"  
"A witch and a wizard."  
Green nodded in satisfaction. "They shouldn't let that other sort in, my father always says so. Worse than Hufflepuffs."  
"Oh."  
"Hey, what did you say your name was?"  
"It's —"  
"That's your clothes done, Mr Oak!" Madam Diplois chirped. "If you'll come on over to the counter."  
"I'll see ya at Hogwarts. And I'll guess your name then," Green said. He gave a strange saluting gesture that Red often associated with wankers. "Smell ya later!"  
When he had his robes, Red walked out frowning. Brock was crying loudly about unrequited love but Red still managed to get him to explain that Hufflepuff was the house for morons and Slytherin for the arrogant morons. When he asked about the 'other sort', Brock looked uncomfortable and ushered Red off to get his wand.  
An old man wearing a turquoise hat scanned him slowly and offered a toothy smile. It wasn't reassuring; his teeth were extremely yellow. "Red Potter, right? I was wondering when I was going to be seeing you. 'M Kurt."  
What was with wizards and not being unnerved by Red's stares?  
"Yep, I remember when your parents were here getting their wands. Willow with a suicune hair core for your mother, twelve inches, springy, very good for defensive spells. Your dad's was much sturdier; mahogany, articuno feather cored, ten inches. Better suited for transfiguration. Very good wands, but all the ones I make are, of course. Your parents were very skilled but of course, the wand chooses the wizard."  
As Kurt babbled his nonsense a tape measure moved on its own, taking measurements of Red's arm span, the length of his fingers, his height, the distance between his eyes…  
"You are right-handed, right?"  
Red nodded.  
Kurt pulled a near-white wand from a box. "Let's try this…"  
It barely touched Red's fingers before Kurt shook his head and grabbed another. Red understood the caution when the second wand leapt from his hand and back into its box.  
"Watch it!"  
The third one exploded a vase of daisies; the fourth oozed from between his fingers before settling in its box like nothing odd had happened; the fifth started to secrete a clear liquid Red later realised was tears; the sixth burst from his hand and hid behind a lamp and the seventh leapt into Kurt's arms.  
" Tricky customer, eh?" Kurt said like it was amusing. "Never mind, Red. I think I have the wand in mind."  
He shuffled off between the shelves before emerging again with a heavily dusted box. "Eleven inches," he whispered, "holy Moltres feather core. Nice and supple."  
When the box was opened and Red gazed upon the dark wand, he once against felt hints of destiny in the silence. When he picked this wand up, heat seemed to coil down his arm and to his chest in a pleasant greeting of 'What took you so long, love?'  
"That's the one… odd," Kurt mused.  
"What is?" Red asked.  
Kurt seemed less cranky all of a sudden. "I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr Potter. And the moltres who gave the feather for that wand's core gave another… but of course I wonder how much you know, having lived with Muggles…"  
"About what?"  
"The user of the wand's brother is the same man who gave you that scar. Yes, it belonged to the Dark Lord Giovanni, though we do not speak his name."  
Red didn't know what to make of that. So Giovanni was the one who killed his parents and cut up his face. The name sounded very dangerous.  
"I expect great things of that wand, Mr Potter," Kurt said darkly. "But make sure they're the right things. That'll be seven galleons."  
Red paid and quickly decided not to pay this Giovanni person much mind. Apparently he was so bad even his name was terrifying…  
"Hey Red!"  
An extremely excited Brock charging over stirred Red from his stupor. "I've got a present for you."  
Red was scared, so he stared.  
From behind his back, Brock pulled out a cage. Inside it, fast asleep, was a shockingly small aerodactyl. It was about the size of a zubat, with a clearly less developed jaw than in pictures Red had seen.  
"Thought you deserved a birthday present," Brock said with a grin.  
Red decided Brock was okay, creepiness aside, and named the Pokémon Aero.  
When Red arrived back at the stones', Harry dashed up to him and shouted, "LOOK, I HAVE A TAIL! I wish it was a charmander one…"  
Red couldn't help but smile.  
Then Harry gasped at Aero. "Whoa! What's that? An evolved zubat?" Red sweat dropped.  
Xxxxx

Red was searching for the non-existent train and began to worry. Getting desperate, Red asked for the train that left at eleven o'clock, but the guard said there wasn't one. In the end the guard strode away, muttering about time wasters. Red was now trying hard not to panic. According to the large clock over the arrivals board, he had ten minutes left to get on the train to Hogwarts and he had no idea how to do it; he was stranded in the middle of a station with a trunk he could hardly lift, a pocket full of wizard money, and a small aerodactyl. Brock must have forgotten to tell him something you had to do, like tapping the third brick on the left to get into Diagon Alley. He wondered if he should get out his wand and start tapping the ticket inspector's stand between platforms nine and ten. At that moment a group of people passed just behind him and he caught a few words of what they were saying. "- Packed with Muggles, of course - - "Red swung round. The speaker was a plump woman who was talking to four boys, all with ebony hair. Each of them was pushing a trunk like Red's in front of him - and they had an cyndiquill and rattata. Heart hammering, Red pushed his cart after them. They stopped and so did he, just near enough to hear what they were saying. "Now, what's the platform number?" said the boys' mother. "Nine and three-quarters!" piped a small girl, also red-headed, who was holding her hand, "Mum, can't... ""You're not old enough, Yellow, now be quiet. All right, Amber, you go first. "What looked like the oldest boy marched toward platforms nine and ten. Red watched, careful not to blink in case he missed it - but just as the boy reached the dividing barrier between the two platforms, a large crowd of tourists came swarming in front of him and by the time the last backpack had cleared away, the boy had vanished. "Odd, you next, " the plump woman said. "I'm not Odd, I'm Ulrich, " said the boy. "Honestly, woman, you call yourself our mother? Can't you tell I'm Ulrich?" "Sorry, Ulrich, dear. ""Only joking, I am Odd, " said the boy, and off he went. His twin called after him to hurry up, and he must have done so, because a second later, he had gone - but how had he done it? Now the third brother was walking briskly toward the barrier he was almost there - and then, quite suddenly, he wasn't anywhere. There was nothing else for it. "Excuse me, " Red said to the plump woman. "Hello, dear, " she said. "First

time at Hogwarts? Gold's new, too. "She pointed at the last and youngest of her sons. He was tall, thin, but looked like he could put up a fight, his eyes were a gold-ish yellow. "Yes, " said Red. "The thing is - the thing is, I don't know how to - - ""How to get onto the platform?" she said kindly, and Red nodded. "Not to worry, " she said. "All you have to do is walk straight at the barrier between platforms nine and ten. Don't stop and don't be scared you'll crash into it, that's very important. Best do it at a bit of a run if you're nervous. Go on, go now before Gold. ""Err - okay, " said Red. He pushed his trolley around and stared at the barrier. It looked very solid. He started to walk toward it. People jostled him on their way to platforms nine and ten. Red walked more quickly. He was going to smash right into that barrier and then he'd be in trouble - leaning forward on his cart, he broke into a heavy run - the barrier was coming nearer and nearer - he wouldn't be able to stop - the cart was out of control - he was a foot away - he closed his eyes ready for the crash -It didn't come... He kept on running... He opened his eyes.  
A scarlet steam engine was waiting next to a platform packed with people. A sign overhead said Hogwarts Express, eleven O'clock. Red looked behind him and saw a wrought-iron archway where the barrier had been, with the words Platform Nine and Three-Quarters on it, He had done it. Smoke from the engine drifted over the heads of the chattering crowd, while Pokemon of every colour wound here and there between their legs. Hoothoot hooted to one another in a disgruntled sort of way over the babble and the scraping of heavy trunks. The first few carriages were already packed with students, some hanging out of the window to talk to their families, some fighting over seats. Red pushed his cart off down the platform in search of an empty seat. He passed a sickly looking green haired boy who was saying, "Gran, I've lost ralts again. ""Oh, Wally, " he heard the old woman sigh. A boy with dreadlocks was surrounded by a small crowd. "Give us a look, Lee, go on. "The boy lifted the lid of a box in his arms, and the people around him shrieked and yelled as something inside poked out a long, hairy leg. Red pressed on through the crowd until he found an empty compartment near the end of the train. He put Aero inside first and then started to shove and heave his trunk toward the train door. He tried to lift it up the steps but could hardly raise one end and twice he dropped it painfully on his foot. "Want a hand?" It was one of the black-haired twins he'd followed through the barrier. "Yes, please, " Red panted. "Oy, Odd! C'mere and help!" With the twins' help, Red's trunk was at last tucked away in a corner of the compartment. "Thanks, " said Red, pushing his sweaty hair out of his eyes. "What's that?" said one of the twins suddenly, pointing at Red's lightning scar. "Blimey, " said the other twin. "Are you" "He is," said the first twin. "Aren't you?" he added to Red. "What?" said Red. "Red Potter, "chorused the twins. "Oh, him, " said Red. "I mean, yes, I am." The two boys gawked at him, and Red felt himself turning red. Then, to his relief, a voice came floating in through the train's open door. "Odd? Ulrich? Are you there?" "Coming, Mum." With a last look at Red, the twins hopped off the train. Red sat down next to the window where, half hidden, he could watch the black/yellow-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying. Their mother had just taken out her handkerchief. "Gold, you've got something on your nose. "The youngest boy tried to jerk out of the way, but she grabbed him and began rubbing the end of his nose. "Mum – get off" He wriggled free. "Aaah, has ickle Goldie got some fink on his nosie?" said one of the twins. "Shut up, " said Gold. "Where's Amber?" said their mother. "He's coming now. "The oldest boy came striding into sight. He had already changed into his billowing black Hogwarts robes, and Red noticed a shiny silver badge on his chest with the letter P on it. "Can't stay long, Mother, " he said. "I'm up front, the prefects have got two compartments to themselves- - ""Oh, are you a prefect, Amber?" said one of the twins, with an air of great surprise. "You should have said something, we had no idea. ""Hang on, I think I remember him saying something about it, " said the other twin. "Once - - ""Or twice - - ""A minute - - ""All summer - - ""Oh, shut up, " said Amber the Prefect. "How come Amber gets new robes, anyway?" said one of the twins. "Because he's a prefect, " said their mother fondly. "All right, dear, well, have a good term - send me a Pidgey when you get there. "She kissed Amber on the cheek and he left. Then she turned to the twins. "Now, you two - this year, you behave yourselves. If I get one more Pidgey telling me you've – you've blown up a toilet or - - ""Blown up a toilet? We've never blown up a toilet." "Great idea though, thanks, Mum." "It's not funny. And look after Gold." "Don't worry, ickle Goldie is safe with us." "Shut up, " said Gold again. He was almost as tall as the twins already and his nose was still pink where his mother had rubbed it. "Hey, Mom, guess what? Guess who we just met on the train?" Red leaned back quickly so they couldn't see him looking. "You know that black-haired boy who was near us in the station? Know who he is?" "Who?" "Red Potter!" Red heard the little girl's voice. "Oh, Mum, can I go on the train and see him, Mum, eh please..." "You've already seen him, Yellow, and the poor boy isn't something you goggle at in a zoo. Is he really, Odd? How do you know?" "Asked him. Saw his scar. It's really there - like lightning." "Poor dear - no wonder he was alone, I wondered. He was ever so polite when he asked how to get onto the platform." "Never mind that, do you think he remembers what You-Know-Who looks like?" Their mother suddenly became very stern. "I forbid you to ask him, Odd. No, don't you dare. As though he needs reminding of that on his first day at school." "All right, keep your hair on. "A whistle sounded. "Hurry up!" their mother said, and the three boys clambered onto the train. They leaned out of the window for her to kiss them good-bye, and their younger sister began to cry. "Don't, Yellow, we'll send you loads of owls. ""We'll send you a Hogwarts toilet seat. ""Ulrich!" "Only joking, Mum. "The train began to move. Red saw the boys' mother waving and their sister, half laughing, half crying, running to keep up with the train until it gathered too much speed, and then she fell back and waved. Red watched the girl and her mother disappear as the train rounded the corner. Houses flashed past the window. Red felt a great leap of excitement. He didn't know what he was going to but it had to be better than what he was leaving behind. The door of the compartment slid open and the youngest ravenheaded boy came in. "Anyone sitting there?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Red. "Everywhere else is full. "Red shook his head and the boy sat down. He glanced at Red and then looked quickly out of the window, pretending he hadn't looked. Red saw he still had a black mark on his nose. "Hey, Gold. "The twins were back. "Listen, we're going down the middle of the train - Lee Jordan's got a giant joltic

down there. ""Right, " mumbled Gold. "Red, " said the other twin, "did we introduce ourselves? Odd and Ulrich Weasley. And this is Gold, our brother. See you later, then. "Bye, " said Red and Gold. The twins slid the compartment door shut behind them. "Are you really Red Potter?" Gold blurted out. Red nodded. "Oh -well, I thought it might be one of Odd and Ulrich's jokes, " said Gold. "And have you really got -you know..." He pointed at Red's forehead. Red pulled back his bangs to show the lightning scar. Gold stared. "So that's where You-Know-Who" "Yes," said Red, "but I can't remember it." "Nothing?" said Gold eagerly. "Well - I remember a lot of green light, but nothing else. ""Wow, " said Gold. He sat and stared at Red for a few moments, then, as though he had suddenly realized what he was doing, he looked quickly out of the window again. "Are all your family wizards?" asked Red, who found Gold just as interesting as Gold found him. "Err - Yes, I think so, " said Gold. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him. ""So you must know loads of magic already." The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about. "I heard you went to live with Muggles, " said Gold. "What are they like?" "Horrible -well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers." "Five, " said Gold. For some reason, he was looking gloomy. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left - Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Amber's a prefect. Odd and Ulrich mess around a lot, but they still get really good marks and everyone thinks they're really funny. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You never get anything new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Amber's old Cyndaquil's runt. "Gold reached inside his jacket and pulled out a Cyndaquil, which was asleep. "His name's Explotaro and he's useless, he hardly ever wakes up. Amber got a Pidgey from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't - I mean, I got Explotaro instead. "Gold's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he went back to staring out of the window. Red didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd never had any money in his life until a month ago, and he told Gold so, all about having to wear Harry's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Gold up. "... And until Brock told me, I didn't know anything about being a wizard or about my parents or Giovanni " Gold gasped. "What?" said Red. "You said You-Know-Who's name!" said Gold, sounding both shocked and impressed. "I'd have thought you, of all people - - ""I'm not trying to be brave or anything, saying the name, " said Red, I just never knew you shouldn't. See what I mean? I've got loads to learn... I bet, " he added, voicing for the first time something that had been worrying him a lot lately, "I bet I'm the worst in the class. ""You won't be. There's loads of people who come from Muggle families and they learn quickly enough. "While they had been talking, the train had carried them out of London. Now they were speeding past fields full of cows and sheep. They were quiet for a time, watching the fields and lanes flick past. Around half past twelve there was a great clattering outside in the corridor and a smiling, dimpled woman slid back their door and said, "Anything off the cart, dears?" Red, who hadn't had any breakfast, leapt to his feet, but Gold's ears went pink again and he muttered that he'd brought sandwiches. Red went out into the corridor. He had never had any money for candy with the Stones, and now that he had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many Rage Candy Bars as he could carry - but the woman didn't have Rage Candy Bars. What she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs. Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liquorice Wands, and a number of other strange things Red had never seen in his life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts. Gold stared as Red brought it all back in to the compartment and tipped it onto an empty seat. "Hungry, are you?" "Starving, " said Red, taking a large bite out of a pumpkin pasty. Gold had taken out a lumpy package and un-wrapped it. There were four sandwiches inside. He pulled one of them apart and said, "She always forgets I don't like corned beef!  
There was a knock on the door of their compartment and the green haired boy Red had passed on platform nine and three quarters came in. He looked tearful. "Sorry, " he said, "but have you seen a Ralts at all?" When they shook their heads, he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!" "He'll turn up, " said Red. "Yes, " said the boy miserably. "Well, if you see him... "He left. "Don't know why he's so bothered, " said Gold. "If I'd brought a Ralts I'd lose it as quick as I could. Mind you, I brought Explotaro, so I can't talk." The Cyndaquil was still snoozing on Gold's lap. "He might have died and you wouldn't know the difference, " said Gold in disgust. "I tried to turn him yellow yesterday to make him more interesting, but the spell didn't work. I'll show you, look... "He rummaged around in his trunk and pulled out a very battered-looking wand. It was chipped in places and something white was glinting at the end. "Unicorn hair's nearly poking out. Anyway He had just raised his 'wand when the compartment door slid open again. The raltsless boy was back, but this time he had a girl with him. She was already wearing her new Hogwarts robes. "Has anyone seen a Ralts? Wally's lost one, " she said. She had a bossy sort of voice, her blue hair in two pig tails, and star shaped earrings. "We've already told him we haven't seen it, " said Gold, but the girl wasn't listening, she was looking at the wand in his hand. "Oh, are you doing magic? Let's see it, then. "She sat down. Gold looked taken aback. "Err - all right. "He cleared his throat. "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow. "He waved his wand, but nothing happened. Explotaro stayed navy and fast asleep. "Are you sure that's a real spell?" said the girl. "Well, it's not very good, is it? I've tried a few simple spells just for practice and it's all worked for me. Nobody in my family's magic at all, it was ever such a surprise when I got my letter, but I was ever so pleased, of course, I mean, it's the very best school of witchcraft, I've heard - I've learned all our course books by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough -I'm Crystal Granger, by the way, who are you?" She said all this very fast. Red looked at Gold, and was relieved to see by his stunned face that he hadn't learned the entire course books by heart either. "I'm Gold Weasley, " Gold muttered. "Red Potter, " said Red. "Are you really?" said Crystal. "I know all about you, of course - I got a few extra books. For background reading, and you're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century. "Am I?" said Red, feeling dazed. "Goodness, didn't you know, I'd have found out everything I could if it was me, " said Crystal. "Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I've been asking around, and I hope I'm in Gryffindor, it sounds by far the best; I hear Oak himself was in it, but I suppose Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad... Anyway, we'd better go and look for Wally's Ralts. You two had better change, you know, I expect we'll be there soon. "And she left, taking the raltless boy with her. "Whatever house I'm in, I hope she's not in it, " said Gold. He threw his wand back into his trunk. "Stupid spell – Ulrich gave it to me, bet he knew it was a dud. ""What house are your brothers in?" asked Red. "Gryffindor, " said Gold. Gloom seemed to be settling on him again. "Mum and Dad were in it, too. I don't know what they'll say if I'm not. I don't suppose Ravenclaw would be too bad, but imagine if they put me in Slytherin. ""That's the house Giov-, I mean, You-Know-Who was in?" "Yeah, " said Gold. He flopped back into his seat, looking depressed. "You know, I think the ends of Explotaro's whiskers are a bit lighter, " said Red, trying to take Gold's mind off houses. "So what do your oldest brothers do now that they've left, anyway?" Red was wondering what a wizard did once he'd finished school. "Charlie's in Romania studying dragons, and Bill's in Africa doing something for Gringotts, " said Gold. "Did you hear about Gringotts? It's been all over the Daily Prophet, but I don't suppose you get that with the Muggles -someone tried to rob a high security vault. "Red stared. "Really? What happened to them?" "Nothing, that's why it's such big news. They haven't been caught. My dad says it must've been a powerful Dark wizard to get round Gringotts, but they don't think they took anything, that's what's odd. 'Course, everyone gets scared when something like this happens in case You-Know-Who's behind it. "Red turned this news over in his mind. He was starting to get a prickle of fear every time You-Know-Who was mentioned. He supposed this was all part of entering the magical world, but it had been a lot more comfortable saying " Giovanni " without worrying. "What's your Quidditch team?" Gold asked. "Err - I don't know any, " Red confessed. "What!" Gold looked dumbfounded. "Oh, you wait, it's the best game in the world - - " And he was off, explaining all about the four balls and the positions of the seven players, describing famous games he'd been to with his brothers and the broomstick he'd like to get if he had the money.  
"Have you met Green before?" Red explained about their meeting in Diagon Alley. "I've heard of his family, " said Gold darkly. "They were some of the first to come back to our side after You-Know-Who disappeared. Said they'd been bewitched. My dad doesn't believe it. He says Green's father didn't need an excuse to go over to the Dark Side. " He turned to Crystal. "Can we help you with something?" "You'd better hurry up and put your robes on, I've just been up to the front to ask the conductor, and he says we're nearly there. You haven't been fighting, have you? You'll be in trouble before we even get here!" " Explotaro has been fighting, not us, " said Gold, scowling at her. "Would you mind leaving while we change?" "All right - I only came in here because people outside are behaving very childishly, racing up and down the corridors, " said Crystal in a sniffy voice. "And you've got dirt on your nose, by the way, did you know?" Gold glared at her as she left. Red peered out of the window. It was getting dark. He did seem to be slowing down. He and Gold took off their jackets and pulled on their long black robes. Gold's were a bit short for him, you could see his sneakers underneath them. A voice echoed through the train: "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately. "Red's stomach lurched with nerves and Gold, he saw, looked pale under his freckles. They crammed their pockets with the last of the sweets and joined the crowd thronging the corridor. The train slowed right down and finally stopped. People pushed their way toward the door and out on to a tiny, dark platform. Red shivered in the cold night air. Then a lamp came bobbing over the heads of the students, and Red heard a familiar voice: "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! All right there, Red?" Brock's dark face beamed over the sea of heads. "C'mon, follow me - any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!" Slipping and stumbling, they followed Brock down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Red thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much. Neville, the boy who kept losing his toad, sniffed once or twice. "Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, " Brock called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here. "There was a loud "Oooooh!" The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers. "No more'n four to a boat!" Brock called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Red and Gold were followed into their boat by Wally and Crystal. "Everyone in?" shouted Brock, who had a boat to himself. "Right then - FORWARD!" And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood. "Heads down!" yelled Brock as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle, until they reached a kind of underground harbour, where they clambered out onto rocks and pebbles. "Oy, you there! Is this your Ralts?" said Brock, who was checking the boats as people climbed out of them. " Ruru!" cried Wally blissfully, holding out his hands. Then they clambered up a passageway in the rock after Brock's lamp, coming out at last onto smooth, damp grass right in the shadow of the castle. They walked up a flight of stone steps and crowded around the huge, oak front door. "Everyone here? You there, still got yer Ralts?" Brock raised a gigantic fist and knocked three times on the castle door.


	2. The Sorting Hat

The Sorting Hat

Waiting for them at the castle's entrance was a stern woman with long blue hair pulled back in a high ponytail and a matching fashion sense; under her robes was a skin-tight… thing that looked to be scaly. She glanced them over and her lip set in a line so thin it had to break some laws of physics to be visible.  
"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "My name is Clair; I teach Transfiguration, so if you try anything funny you'll be turned into a zubat. Come inside."  
The doors creaked open to reveal a massive well-lit and extremely warm hall. Red hadn't seen anything like it before, but he wasn't sure that that meant anything coming from someone who grew up in a cupboard. Apparently it did, though, because other students were gazing around gasping in awe as Clair rolled her eyes.  
"Quickly, now."  
The door closed behind the last two students and Clair beckoned them towards another door. "Get in a line. Single-file. "The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall, you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because, while you are here, your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house, sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room. "The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honour. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours. "The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting."  
"You're the one with your tits half out," Green not-so-quietly muttered.  
"Mis-ter Oak. I will turn you into a furrett if you speak again."  
Green shut up.  
Waiting for them inside the hall was a hat who sang of the four houses; Gryffindor for the brave, symbolised by an arcanine; Ravenclaw for the intelligent, symbolised by a swellow; Slytherin for the ambitions, symbolised by a serperior; and Hufflepuff for the finders, symbolised by a floatzel.  
The Sorting was one moment Red would never forget not only due to the four paths his life could have taken but because it was the first time he saw Professor Samuel Oak, Headmaster of Hogwarts, in person. He sat at the middle of the table, dressed in luxurious purple robes. His hair, somewhere between brown and grey in hue, sat up in spikes and despite having quite a stern face, his eyes twinkled at Red. It certainly made Red feel less awkward about being the only wizard at Hogwarts whose hair followed the laws of gravity.  
"I'll kill Odd; he was going on about wrestling a troll." Red. Smiled weakly. Yes, trying on the hat was a lot better than having to do a spell, but he did wish they could have tried it on without everyone watching. The hat seemed to be asking rather a lot; Red didn't feel brave or quick-witted or any of it at the moment. If only the hat had mentioned a house for people who felt a bit queasy, that would have been the one for him. Professor Clair now stepped forward holding a long roll of parchment. "When I call your name, you will put on the hat and sit on the stool to be sorted," she said. "Abbott, Hannah!" A pink-faced girl with blonde pigtails stumbled out of line, put on the hat, which fell right down over her eyes, and sat down. A moment's pause -"HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat. The table on the right cheered and clapped as Hannah went to sit down at the Hufflepuff table. Red saw the ghost of the Fat Friar waving merrily at her. "Bones, Susan!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" shouted the hat again, and Susan scuttled off to sit next to Hannah. "Boot, Terry!" "RAVENCLAW!" The table second from the left clapped this time; several Ravenclaws stood up to shake hands with Terry as he joined them. "Brocklehurst, Blue" went to Ravenclaw too, she had brown hair with blue eyes as she walked down to the seat next to Terry and started flirting with him , but "Brown, Whitney" became the first new Gryffindor, and the table on the far left exploded with cheers; Red could see Gold's twin brothers catcalling. "Bulstrode, Millicent" then became a Slytherin. Perhaps it was Red's imagination, after all he'd heard about Slytherin, but he thought they looked like an unpleasant lot. He was starting to feel definitely sick now. He remembered being picked for teams during gym at his old school. He had always been last to be chosen, not because he was no good, but because no one wanted Red to think they liked him. "Finch-Fletchley, Justin!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" Sometimes, Red noticed, the hat shouted out the house at once, but at others it took a little while to decide. "Finnigan, Seamus," the sandy-haired boy next to Red in the line, sat on the stool for almost a whole minute before the hat declared him a Gryffindor. "Granger, Crystal!" Crystal almost ran to the stool and jammed the hat eagerly on her head. "GRYFFINDOR!" shouted the hat. Gold groaned. A horrible thought struck Red, as horrible thoughts always do when you're very nervous. What if he wasn't chosen at all? What if he just sat there with the hat over his eyes for ages, until Professor Clair jerked it off his head and said there had obviously been a mistake and he'd better get back on the train? When Wally Longbottom, the boy who kept losing his Ralts, was called, he fell over on his way to the stool. The hat took a long time to decide with Wally. When it finally shouted, "GRYFFINDOR," Wally ran off still wearing it, and had to jog back amid gales of laughter to give it to "MacDougal, Morag"; Green swaggered forward when his name was called and got his wish at once: the hat had barely touched his head when it screamed, "SLYTHERIN!" Green went to join his Lackys, looking pleased with him. There weren't many people left now. "Moon" "Nott" "Parkinson" then a pair of twin girls, "Patil" and "Patil" then "Perks, Sally-Anne" and then, at last - "Potter, Red!" As Red stepped forward, whispers suddenly broke out like little hissing fires all over the hall. "Potter, did she say?" "The Red Potter?" The last thing Red saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was the hall full of people craning to get a good look at him.  
When it was Red's turn, the Hat immediately whispered in his ear, "How very flat your hair is," and the good feelings vanished. "Oh don't worry; great things can become of even those with flat hair. Now, let's take a look at your mind… good level of intelligence, very good level of intelligence, pity there's no hunger behind it… not friendly at all, are you? Can't be blamed, can you, Cupboard Boy? And oh my, what's this buried under the denial? A secret craving to be the very best like no one ever was — ambition! Ah, and there's your cunning, but you're not without bravery… my my, wherever shall I put your jumbled little mind?"  
Red was going to shrug, but he really did like arcanines better than any of the other Pokémon representing the Houses.  
"Oh, is that so? Well then, you'd better be GRYFFINDOR." Red heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall. He took off the hat and walked shakily toward the Gryffindor table. He was so relieved to have been chosen and not put in Slytherin; he hardly noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. Percy the Prefect got up and shook his hand vigorously, while the Weasley twins yelled, "We got Potter! We got Potter!" Red sat down opposite the ghost in the ruff he'd seen earlier. The ghost patted his arm, giving Red the sudden, horrible feeling he'd just plunged it into a bucket of ice-cold water.  
Red glanced at the table of teachers. Honestly, it wasn't entirely surprising that Professor Oak was a wizard; he was, after all, the inventor of the modern PokéBall, PokéDex, and other unbelievably complicated machines Trainers were told not to question but just accept. Beside him was Clair, who seemed disdained to be talking to a tiny little man wrapped in a large purple scarf. Red would have continued to examine his future teachers, but one of them caught his eye — a man in a blue jacket with spiked yellow, not blonde, hair who glared with utterly loathing.  
A sharp pain shot across Red's scar. Quickly, he glanced around for anything other than the man in the jacket.  
Across the hall, fittingly under the serperior banner, Green was ignoring the pretty girl beside him in favour of glaring at Red.  
Red wondered if everybody else who grew up in a cupboard emerged to find the world filled with people who hate them. After that everyone was shown to their dorms.  
At the very end of the corridor hung a portrait of a very fat woman in a pink silk dress. "Password?" she said. "Caput Dragonair," said Amber, and the portrait swung forward to reveal a round hole in the wall. They all scrambled through it - Wally needed a leg up - and found themselves in the Gryffindor common room, a cozy, round room full of squashy armchairs. Percy directed the girls through one door to their dormitory and the boys through another. At the top of a spiral staircase - they were obviously in one of the towers - they found their beds at last: five four-posters hung with deep red, velvet curtains. Their trunks had already been brought up. Too tired to talk much, they pulled on their pyjamas and fell into bed. "Great food, isn't it?" Gold muttered to Red through the hangings. "Get off, Explotaro! He's chewing my sheets. "Red was going to ask Gold if he'd had any of the treacle tart, but he fell asleep almost at once. Perhaps Red had eaten a bit too much, because he had a very strange dream. He was wearing a turban, which kept talking to him, telling him he must transfer to Slytherin at once, because it was his destiny. Red told the turban he didn't want to be in Slytherin; it got heavier and heavier; he tried to pull it off but it tightened painfully - and there was Green, laughing at him as he struggled with it –then Green turned into the Blond teacher, Volkner, whose laugh became high and cold - there was a burst of green light and Red woke, sweating and shaking. He rolled over and fell asleep again, and when he woke next day, he didn't remember the dream at all.

Sorry about it being short


End file.
